Here's a reminder of some of the events but use the space to talk about anything you want and to report what happened for those who couldn't be there.

• Welcome to the Assembly - for those coming for their first time
   
• Lecture by Nigel Wright: 'Sustaining evangelical identity: faithfulness and freedom in denominational life'
   
• Prepare with Prayer - with Pat Took
   
• New monasticism: something old, something borrowed, something blue
   
• Opening Celebration - ‘The big-hearted God’ with Chris Duffett

This is a popular and attractive philosophy. It demands nothing, expects nothing and changes nothing. It is a sentiment detached from our involvement and influence. It is beyond us. I’m way too young to remember Doris Day, who first uttered these words in her song (I was born when Sly and the Family Stone did a cover version of it in 1973) but I am only too aware of how Que Sera, Sera is sung in the heart of every football fan who dreams of the journey towards Wembley (I’ve only followed the dream once with my team).

My main beef with this phrase is the hopelessness and resignation that the future is outside of our influence and the utter disregard for the resurrection. St Paul was frustrated by this kind of worldview too when he quoted those who did not believe in resurrection by saying “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” I wonder whether now, through this forum and discussion what we are all crying out for is a resurrected Baptist movement. I certainly am.

I was out preaching the other night, and after the service got into conversation with a guy called Dan. We are both the same age, born within a couple of weeks of each other, grew up in the same bit of Liverpool, but six months ago Dan lost his job when a well known Merseyside company went to the wall. Dan needed someone to talk to, and I was around; he is three months behind with his mortgage payments, already in arrears with other debts and desperate to find a job before he loses his home.

It's because of people like Dan that we partner with organisations like CAP, and churches run drop-ins and debt counselling centres. But good and commendable as they are, I wonder to what degree such projects are a symptom of the church's real struggle these days. When people need help, we're great at organising projects, but I can't get out of my head that when I read the pages of the New Testament, churches didn't have people like Dan. We are told that they had everything in common and no-one amongst them was in need. They didn't need debt counselling projects, because those who had, simply shared with those who had not.